I saw this crazy looking insect at a park earlier this week. I was so baffled. What was this thing??? It looked kind of like a cross between a cricket or grasshopper and something from the ocean. And, it wouldn't hop or fly - it just crawled. Someone suggested it was a nymph cricket. So, I went online to What's that Bug? (GREAT SITE!!!) and found it almost immediately.
So, what is it? It's a mole cricket! Here's some of what I learned from wikipedia:
Mole crickets have large, beady eyes and shovel-like forelimbs highly developed for burrowing and swimming. (hopefully you can enlarge the photo and see this!) They can also fly and spend the winter in hibernation. (I read on another site that they are most closely related to grasshoppers, not crickets.)
Mole crickets are relatively common, but because they are nocturnal and spend nearly all their lives underground in extensive tunnel systems, they are rarely seen. In East Asia, however, they are sometimes used as food (fried).
Alexandra also found this chunk of beautiful lichen! Lichens are usually a combination of a fungus and an algae living together! And, I read that lichens can be used to make dyes and in deoderant! I'll have to share more later.
Also, did anyone get to see the eclipse??? It was raining - pouring! - here. :-( I'd love to see any photos if anyone got some. And, wish I would have found this site earlier, but this is a NEAT looking model of "How Eclipses Work" - both lunar and solar! I just printed it off and we're going to have to build it.
5 comments:
Great finds! We didn't get to see the eclipse because of the fog. I kept going out hoping the fog would lift but I shoulda known better. Didn't even see a moon or a star or any light at all.*sitting here pouting*
Awesome paper model! Thank you so much for sharing the link! We studied the moon in October - the opportunity to see an eclipse was such a great review! We didn't have a great view, but did see it between some trees. Very cool. :)
That mole cricket is cool. Scary, but cool. Lichens used for deodorant?! Ewww! LOL! Would you mind giving me your e-mail addy I could send you and Alexandra some photos of the lunar eclipse that my friend took.
I love the paper eclipse! That's so cool! I'm gonna print it off for GB because he was totally fascinated by the whole process. I did get some pics but we had lots of clouds, so I did the best I could. Hopefully one of the other moms got some better ones.
And that bug! OMG! Yuck!
You know me....... not a bug person. Glad you found him and not me.
I have a bug thing I want you to take a look at. I'll post on it tomorrow. I'm kind of scared to find out what it is.
Thanks for visiting me! You have a great blog, I have enjoyed reading through it. We thankfully did get to see the lunar eclipse, it was so cool! However, my camera wasn't good enough to capture a picture of it. Thanks for the link of the model.
I'd love to come back and visit often!
Blessings, Melissa
www.homeschoolblogger.com/melissal89
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